diff --git a/python/pyspark/sql/column.py b/python/pyspark/sql/column.py
index d03bb6d33dd03389c4294a9462c69b412de825c1..baf1ecbd0a2fc7db4431e5e504610951132da04b 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/sql/column.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/sql/column.py
@@ -302,6 +302,8 @@ class Column(object):
             raise TypeError("unexpected type: %s" % type(dataType))
         return Column(jc)
 
+    astype = cast
+
     @ignore_unicode_prefix
     @since(1.3)
     def between(self, lowerBound, upperBound):